Finance

A honest and true account of how
my family members have guided and encouraged me to grow into a better, more self-reliant
person., a blog from the true and honest me.

As the father and the husband of
the household and thereby being the senior most member of the family, it was
quite natural that I was assumed and presumed to be the only candidate eligible
to done the role of the mentor, the trouble shooter, the caretaker for all
other family members. I took of my responsibility in full zeal too, taking care
and embracing my close knit family consisting of my beautiful wife and three
wonderful daughters, my princesses under the cover of the umbrella that my
spread out wings covered, not only with respect to the love and affection that
they needed from me but also the financial support and risk cover to take care
of their needs in case of any unforeseen eventuality of I not being there to
watch over them.

They say, children learn from
their parents, and that may be true to a certain extent, but my practical
experience has made me a firm believer of the maxim that we are constant
learners, we learn from what we see, we learn from our and others’ experiences,
we learn from our mistakes and we learn from our deeds. And in this process of
learning, our teachers, our mentors can be anyone. In my case, it happened to
be my own daughters.

Born and brought up in a very
conservative household, from the southern hemisphere of our country, where risk
taking was considered taboo and securing a job with the Government was the way
to eternal bliss, it was initially a bit difficult for me to shed my inhibitions
and leave the comforts of my secure job and take a plunge into the world of entrepreneurship,
which I did a few years back.

A father with the ultimate
responsibility of seeing three daughters getting married off, how could I even
think of such a stupid idea? These recorded messages by my so called
well-wishers kept playing back in my mind and into my ears. A totally confused
me was at the mercy of breakdown, when my eldest daughter, my angel came as the
mentor to me. It was she who stirred and woke the confidence in me. She
insisted that her Dad was not destined to work under someone for the rest of
his life. She realised the flame in my eyes, my quest to become an entrepreneur
and cajoled me into taking the dive.

Today, as I look back on the
crossroads of my life and career, I have no regrets for having taken the
diversion, the less tread path, when I felt like doing it. My daughter has
been the one who believed in what her Dad was capable of and ensured against
all odds that I achieved it. Years after that fateful decision, today, even she
is following my footsteps on the same profession and ready to take over my
enterprise from where and when I shall be willing to hand over the baton into
her worthy hands.

For me, it was my eldest daughter
with the able support of my ever understanding wife and the loving care of my
other two daughters too, who let me live my life the way I dreamed, so that I
can hold my head high and exclaim, Apnon ne Mujhe Apne Dum par Jeena Sikhaaya.
I could do all this without fear was because I knew always that in any
eventuality, my family will be looked after by HDFC Standard Life Insurance
Company Limited, where I have invested prudently in their various life
insurance policies will ensure that my family will also live their life Apne
Dum Pe.

For more details of the amazing insurance
plans specially designed by HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited to
make us live our life our way, apne dum pe, please visit http://www.hdfclife.com/.

“Carry the Bank in your pocket” –
yeah! That’s the tag line and this mobile banking application launched by Axis
Bank promises just that.

How many times have we not
shuddered at the thought of having required to make that tedious journey to our
bank branches’, negotiating the traffic snarls on the way, and then again end
up queuing up at the counters to transact business. And consider the irritation,
when we know that we are doing all this to handle our own money, which is lying
at the mercy of the bankers.

Came the era of internet banking
and all these started becoming obsolete. What we could do only by a visit to
the Bank could now be done sitting at the comforts of our homes and offices. But
then, we needed to be at home or office to do all these. What about people like
me, always on the move? People who live out of their suitcases! They probably
have to take a day off or depend on the mercy of others to help them out with
their banking routines.

This problem was addressed with the
advent of the mobile banking. It was banking on the tiny rectangular piece of
engineering marvel that we hold in our palms and carry around with us
everywhere, the thing that we call our smart-phone. Yeah! You heard it right.
The banking transactions slowly got shifted to the mobile platform. But virtual
banking, you can say, was mired with controversies, instances and news of
security being breached, phishing, and our hard earned money just vanishing
into thin air. People somehow could not trust the invention too sincerely.

As Banks were losing out
customers on this significant sector, someone needed to take the lead to herald
the era of secure banking on the mobile. Who else could lead the way in this
than Axis Bank which had always excelled in providing financial solutions to
the customers with smart use of technology, a bank which ensures fair practices
and complete transparency in it transactions?

The Axis Bank Mobile application was
born which would go ahead and revolutionize the way, banking is transacted.
With this simple, user-friendly, convenient and secure mobile banking application,
banking became just a touch away, whichever may be the platform, whether
Android, i-Phone or Windows. You just need any one of the following OS
(operating system) on your smart phone and you are ready to do banking on the
go:

a) Android

b) iOS

c) Windows

d) Mobile
Web (from Mobile browsers)This mobile application can be
used by all the customers of Axis Bank. In short, you need not be an account
holder holding a savings or current account to be able to operate this application.
You hold a credit card of the bank, or just have a loan, housing or vehicle or
otherwise, from the bank, you can transact your business through this application.
Furthermore, you need not be residing in India to operate this, as it is
available for customers across the globe, whether residents or non-residents.

So it is for:

a) Saving
account holders

b) Current
account holders

c) Credit
card holders

d) Loan
account customers

e) A
combination of one or more of the above.

I am just amazed by the features
of this mobile banking application. I can just go on and on, if I am asked to
speak on this, but when I write, I need to unfortunately restrict myself. Oh
poor readers, wish I could come personally and explain to you. But just a few
of them here, and you would be in awe of it:

1. So
many multiple statements, so many call centres to call up, I used to be really
fed up. Now I can view my account statements, my deposits summary, my credit
card summary as also the entire details of my various loan accounts under one
umbrella.

2. Always
a fan of plastic money, I don’t think twice before flaunting my credit card on
shopping sprees, but on happy realizations after coming back home, I always
used to wonder, and how much would be my damages in the next billing cycle. Now
I don’t have to worry about the payment due dates. I can view my unbilled
transactions and pay off as and when I have the resources to do it.

3. I
don’t now have to worry about missing the deadline in paying the utility bills
and them standing at my doorstep threatening to discontinue the services. I can
view and schedule bill payments on the go, so that it automatically gets
debited from my account on the due date or on the date that I wish.

4. As
I am getting addicted to their mobile banking features, the bank is continuously
adding more and more awe-inspiring features. The latest on the list is the
facility to convert my transactions into EMI, block and replace my credit card
instantly before even the thief attempts a transaction. I feel like going on a big shopping expedition
and I can check my eligibility for credit limit increase and apply for the same
so that on the date of my splurging, I am not embarrassed.

I am tired going on and on, but
the list is never ending. One would say, these features are almost there in
other banks’ applications too. So what’s new? Of course there is; some of them
being absolutely unique to Axis Bank mobile banking alone. Do you want to hear
it out? Then here I go.

1. I
feel the need and necessity to transfer funds urgently to somebody, whether an
Axis bank account holder or not. I can do that now by just adding beneficiaries
and transferring funds on real time, absolutely instantly.

2. I
now have the authority to fix up my own transaction limits. It is up to be me
to decide whether I want it at only Rs.50,000/- or I can be magnanimous to my
wife and family, and put it at a whooping Rs.10 lakhs.

3. Absolutely
unique is the Axis Bank reward points, wherein you can accumulate reward points
for anything. So you now need not spend money on purchases if you are not a
shopaholic, you just keep your funds in your account and you get reward points
even for the balances in your account.

Being a finance
guy, I am very particular about the safety features. I would never attempt
anything unless I am sure of it. And so with the Axis Bank mobile banking
application, I can be absolutely sure and secure. The amazing feature that
takes care of this aspect is the SIM locking, which allows anyone to onboard
the application only with the Bank registered mobile number (RMN). And at every
stage you need not just your mobile phone with you; you need your MPIN which is
known only to you, as secret as what you know about your neighbor’s wife J

Security
features are plenty, but to name a few:

1. I
can add beneficiaries using the 2FA security, which means that I need not use
the internet banking for making fund transfers, thereby compromising on security.

2. I
can switch off and on my debit cards at my whims and fancies. I feel that my
card has been misplaced, just switch it off in a jiffy; find it and switch it
on again.

3. Your
mobile phone gets stolen, which is quite common these days, still no one can
access the application without the MPIN. But still, you want to be doubly sure,
just get the app account terminated in the phone.

4. Feel
that grown up kids using your phone can splurge on online purchases, using the
app, just moodily the daily transaction limit for the app as per your needs and
surprise the kids.

5. The
online requests for blocking and replacing the credit cards are so instant and
hassle free that I need not worry a bit on misplacing it.

6. Amazingly,
Axis Bank has thought much beyond we could. You need time to get assimilated to
the features, and hence using third party help. The Bank understands this and
the daily transactions limit is restricted to only Rs.30,000/- for the first 5
days after registration.

All these are
what I would want from my mobile banking application. For those guys who are
still hard to please, here are some pleasing features too.

1. Just
check out and find offers near you whenever you want.

2. Give
a personalized touch to transactions by adding photos for your accounts and
beneficiaries.

3. Feel
like short of funds, but still need to go for that online sale, you can view
and redeem edge loyalty points at any time.

4. Social
worms can have their social media seamlessly integrated into the application.

5. Got
tempted to buy that expensive diamond necklace for your wife but now wondering
how to pay it off on the due date? Smile and convert your credit card transactions
into EMI with one simple click.

6. A
snob, you get irritated logging in and typing info every single time, you can
set your most frequent transactions as favorites for one click payments.

7. Last
but not the least, our priorities change and the Bank adapts to it. We just
recorder the menu as per our choice.

Isn’t that enough? We would say,
Yes! But these techno-freaks at the Bank don’t seem to think so. We are in for
surprise regularly with new features being added every 45 days, since it was
launched in August 2013. Just the beginning of this month of Feb 2nd
was the last update and be prepared to get some more pleasant surprises in the
next update due on 15th March.

So, just get, set go and carry
the bank in your pocket with a smile. Axis Bank is there to travel with you
everywhere. Start banking a new way, your way!